REPORT CALLS FOR ACTION TO PROMOTE VITALITY OF GREATER MONTREAL’S ENGLISH-SPEAKING COMMUNITIES

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE –September 19, 2007

Greater Montreal Community Development Initiative (GMCDI) report focuses on challenges facing the English-speaking community, and courses of action.

MONTREAL, QUEBEC – The Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN), a not-for-profit organization bringing together numerous English-speaking sector and community organizations across Quebec, is pleased to announce that the Greater Montreal Community Development Initiative (GMCDI) has completed its findings and recommendations, and released its final report. The GMCDI is a project intended to assist English-speaking communities of the greater Montreal region in identifying challenges facing the community and determining how to address them. As part of this process, it has engaged in broad community consultations, including a public meeting at the Hilton Bonaventure Hotel in downtown Montreal last April 11th, which drew over 200 participants.
“We are proud to say that this report reflects key issues and priorities that were expressed to us by English-speaking Montrealers during our consultations,” commented Don Taylor, chair of the Steering Committee of the GMCDI. “It also offers recommendations that will, in partnership with community groups and sector professionals, provide the necessary groundwork to promote the vitality of English-speaking Montreal for the future.”
Report Findings
In its report, GMCDI has focused on six key subjects: Demographics, Health and Social Services, Education, Employment and Economic Development, Social Participation, and Arts and Culture. The Steering Committee was pleased with the great strengths and community vitality it encountered during the course of its work. After observing and consulting, the report had a number of important conclusions:
- Leadership: With political interest diminishing and the lower public profile of the English-speaking community, there is an immediate need for stronger leadership.
- Health care: Service barriers remain in some areas, due to low numbers of English-speaking health care professionals and uneven distribution of services across the Greater Montreal Area.
- Education: There is great concern over the continuing decline in enrolment in English school boards, and the impact this may have on the quality of education.
Report Recommendations
GMCDI has several recommendations. Among them:
- Create task forces to develop a more integrated and targeted approach to finding solutions to the issues facing the English-speaking community in fields such as employability and economic development, health and social services, and arts and culture.
- Creation of an Internet-based community database of resources, services and expertise for the English-Speaking community. This information portal would simplify access to existing services and resources.
- That the leadership of the English-speaking community re-mobilise, and address the challenge of community development in a collaborative manner.
The GMCDI also recommends holding a working conference to be held in Spring of 2008 to review the progress of the Task Forces, and take stock of the work already accomplished.
“We are tremendously pleased with the report’s results, and we are looking forward to working with GMCDI Steering Committee and all leaders of the English-speaking community of the Greater Montreal Area,” added Sylvia Martin-Laforge, the Director-General of QCGN. “The QCGN’s role will primarily be to facilitate putting the GMCDI recommendations into place.”
The full text of GMCDI’s final report will be available in both official languages through the QCGN website: http://www.qcgn.ca